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Abstract
Major clinical uses of the new Doppler color flow mapping technologies involve the
imaging of disturbed flow through cardiac defects or valves. Nevertheless, there is
little general understanding of the determinants of flow and of how flow is imaged
by these new systems. This review will attempt to relate the hydrodynamics through
a simplified stenotic or regurgitant orifice with the physics and sampling theories
relevant to the functioning of Doppler color flow mapping systems. The goal will be
to characterize the velocity resolution, spatial resolution, sensitivity and performance
of these systems so that clinicians can understand why flow looks the way it does
on Doppler color studies and which aspects of flow mapping can be expected to become
more quantifiable than they are at present.